CALMNESS and composure.
AFLW Senior Coach Mathew Buck was pleased that his side was able to carry out four quarters of football and not be rattled by the pressure from the Swans.
Taking home a five-point win in a physical contest at IKON Park, Carlton held the reigns for the majority of the game, fighting off any comeback that Sydney attempted to mount.
Here's what he had to say.
On the win:
“I don’t like winning like that all the time. I like winning - don’t get me wrong - but those tight ones take a few years off your life I think, but I’m proud of the team, they hung in. We practice scenarios at training, so it’s good to see them put that into practice out on the field”.
Messaging at three-quarter time:
“We needed to be brave in that last quarter, so win, lose or draw it was important how we played rather than the result to be honest.
"Mimi’s overlap run and then kicked the goal was important, we looked to come through the middle a little bit. I can’t fault them, they were brave in pretty tough conditions in the end in a hard last quarter so I’m proud of them”.
On Brea Moody’s growth this year:
“[Brea] was exceptional today and she’s trying to add layers to her game with her forward craft to compliment Jess Good, and I think they’re calling it the ‘Good Mood’ ruck combination.
"'Moods' is working on her forward craft and she played a little higher today as a forward and did some ruck as well, but the contested marks were probably the difference in the game in the end. She kicks the ball a long way and gives us great territory as well, so today was a big tick for Moods and her growth”.
On Kerryn Peterson:
“She battled through really well and copped a couple of knocks throughout the day. She’s a terrific leader, I can give her the message and make sure we’re doing this as a team and she takes it out there and implements it."
On the backline standing up when needed:
“That’s kind of what we’ve gone to work on over the pre-season, that’s our contest and our defence so we think it holds up pretty well and we pride ourselves on that, so to keep Sydney - who we think is a pretty good side - to six goals for the game, was a good effort from us.
"I’m proud of Harriet Cordner and 'Mua' [Laloifi] back there who lead the way for us and Gab Pound -- who I thought had a great game for us, so the backs are holding up which is great”.
On adjusting game style:
“We knew they like to kick-mark the ball, and they really go for the kicks, we thought that would give us opportunity within the game and how good could we be off of turnover.
"We’ve probably got some growth in the area but we made the most of some of our opportunities and in the end it was enough”.
On Mia Austin:
“She’s really dynamic in her movements and wants to be great, so she goes to work really hard with our coaches during the week. To have a player who wants to be great and leads the way in the way she trains and goes about her footy, she’ll get the results on the back of that at some stage.
"She adds a little bit of something different to our forward line with her pace and ability to jump at the ball and compliments [Phoebe] McWilliams and [Breann] Moody really well, so she’ll have a big game some stage no doubt about that and I look forward to that when it comes”.
On the midway point of the season:
“My expectation coming in [as a first-year coach] was to drive some high performance and standards of the Club and have results come off the back of that.
"Now you’ve got to be real with your fixture and who you play and how great the top teams are. We know where we are on our journey and we’ll keep trying to get better and implement things on-field and off the field.
"In terms of the season and where we sit, we’ll let that be where it is right now and assess later in the season”.
